Taipan 1st Custom Stock - Taipan Veteran II - TAKE TWO

[bowwild]

On my original thread as I was deciding to get the Taipan Veteran II, I mentioned I might try to make a hardwood stock. I started on this project yesterday. I've never attempted a gun stock before, but I do make furniture and repair same for my two grown children. I also make wooden gun cradles which I've posted for sale here and there.

1. The first step was to mill up a piece of 2 1/4" thick kiln-dried walnut, 23" long by about 6" wide. I've left myself a bit of wiggle room on all the dimensions. Then I traced the outline of the Taipan on the blank.

2. The second step was to attempt the make or break cut, the air tube channel. The channel is 1.57" (40MM). I bought a 1.5" nose bit for my router. I practiced on an identically dimensioned blank of eastern red cedar. It worked!! I marked a centerline in the top of the blank from the muzzle end to where the inlet cuts will be more narrow than 1.5". I then cut that centerline about 1/2" deep on my squared up table saw. This would serve as a guide and "encourage" the router bit to behave. I cut the channel in 4 passes to go easy and sneak up on the cut. The finished channel is about 1/32" narrower than I want. I'll have to use sandpaper on a dowel to remove a bit more wood from the channel to properly seat the tube.

I'm pretty pleased. The whole project would have been nixed if I couldn't manage that router cut. Frankly, the router is a bit scary to this hobbyist . A parallel-sided air tube is far easier to inlet than a tapered powder burner rifle barrel. You can see my planer made a small chip in the end of the top of the butt stock. Fortunately, I oversized the blank and the stock will dip down in that areas as well. The chip won't impact anything.

Next steps:
3. Sand that air tube channel wider
4. Create a template for the final shape I'm after. I want much sleeker and more skeletonization.
5. Mark and drill action/stock screws before I begin shaping to have square faces to best center the holes. This is a very important step as the remainder of the inletting works from that action screw reference point.
6. Mark all areas to be inletted for the action and use Forstner bits and chisels to complete the inletting. I'm glad all the action inletting is square and not as complicated as a powder burner.
7. Using Forstner bits hog out all the areas to be skeletonized, including the slot for the charging handle.
8. Cut to very near final shape.
9. Using various hand tools and sand paper contour and prepare the stock for oil finish.
10. Finish with rubbed and polished oil product.

If this goes well I'd like to make another out of Eastern Red Cedar and another out of Cherry. I think it would be cool to have a "trap door" in the buttstock to hold a mag or two.

 

[MrP]

Always a treat to see someone work through a process from start to finish like this, especially if it's something I've never attempted myself. Seeing these kinds of things through the lens of someone else's experience is what makes these forms so interesting. Inspiring stuff

 

[Gear_Junkie]

Thanks for posting this, I look forward to reading more!

 

[bowwild]

Thanks. I'm starting with 10 digits and intend to end with 10.

 

[Gear_Junkie]

Thanks. I'm starting with 10 digits and intend to end with 10.

Always a good thing

 

[Mr.H]

Subscribed to this thread! I would be nervous using a hand held router to do that channel. Could you have rigged up your router in a router table?

 

[bowwild]

I used a router table. You bet, no way I'd try to wrestle such a large bit (1.5" in diameter) with a handheld. I use hand held for edge work only. I've learned most of what I know about using my machines on Youtube and by practice. I don't watch YouTube videos if the creator has missing digits.

 

[bowwild]

Worked on the Custom Stock today for a bit. By the way, this is the first time I've ever done a build along, but I've watched a lot of them by other folks and....well you know what Motel I stayed in last night?

I'm skipping Step 3 for a bit to keep the air tube inlet from getting too thin, too early in the project. So I worked on step 4, 5, 6, & 7.

I created a template out of 1/2" pine. I may extend the forend a bit longer since I have room. I also located and drilled the action hole screws. These action holes are very crucial and must be exactly located to make sure the action fits. I spent quite a while doing this. I did get in a bit of a hurry and cut a bit from the stock which made the action hole locations more difficult. Duh, I knew better, but....

Then I began using Forstner bits to hog out the square sided action inlet that runs pretty much the entire length of the top of the stock behind the air tube. Again to provide a guide for Forster bit placement I cut a 1/8" deep and wide kerf down the middle of the top of the stock using my table saw. This keeps the 1" and 1 1/8" Forstner bits in a straight line. Then a lot of chisel work to square up the channel. I'll have to use sandpaper on a square rod to smooth out the channel. There are two area that are a bit more open which I'll have to chisel out a bit wider. I could have used straight-walled router bits to cut the channel but I was concerned about the thinness of the stock walls and wanted more control using a drill press and vise.

My only concern now are those action screw holes. I'm pretty sure I'll have to drill one out a bit larger (+1/8") in order to make up for a very small placement error. I'm using hollow aluminum 1820 arrow shafts as "bushings" in the action holes through which the action screws fit perfectly. This will prevent wear in those holes.

One of the more useful tools is my digital caliper for measuring width, length, and depth of inlets.

Template to get a "feel" for shape.

Two Action Holes. The holes are in the center of the channel, even though the picture makes them appear above center.

This is the Forstner bit rough inlet for the action. There is still a bit more rough inletting to do as a couple places have to go a bit deeper.

Another angle of the Forstner bit work.

So far so good. There really isn't a lot of wood in a stock. Therefore it is difficult to get very creative. My goal is to have a more streamlined stock and that it not be fragile.

 

[oaks1450]

Following. Looking forward to watching your progress. I will be starting a Benchrest stock here in the near future.
I need more wood shaping tools.

 

[JimD]

Looks great so far. I made some screws without heads for marking the location of the action screws. I just bought screws from the local Home Depot that were the right thread for the gun (a P35 in my case) and cut the heads off and then sharpened one end into a point. I then thread them into the gun and lower the action into the stock to precisely mark the position of the screws. I have to have the inletting done first, of course. In your case you could leave the screws sticking out plenty and see if they go into the holes you've made.

If your holes are not exactly where you want them, and maybe if they are in the case of the rear screw, you might want to drill them out to something like 1/2 inch or 5/8th inch and glue in a piece of dowel then drill that dowel piece after the glue dries. I like to do the rear screw hole this way because I want the head to be recessed into the stock and I have found no good way to make that recess inside the cut out area of the stock behind the grip. With a dowel I just leave the end recessed. I epoxy a washer in these holes so the dowel doesn't show and the screw has something to bear against.

You may find it works better to use your big router bit to open up the area for the air tube the small amount you need to instead of trying to do it with sandpaper. You would need to cut the two sides separately. Carefully. The bit is more likely to make a smooth curve than at least my hands would with sandpaper.

I cut the external curves with my bandsaw and the internal with my Bosch jig saw. I drill too when I can, the drill press makes a straight through hole more reliably than even a good jig saw. But I don't start shaping until the inletting is complete.

After the shape is done I pretty much sand the stock to shape. For gross removal a 80 grit flapper wheel on a right angle grinder works great. I have used a 40 but I found it difficult to control. The 80 is slower but more controllable. After the flapper wheel I switch to a random orbit sander with 80 grit then work my way up. On areas where these tools do not work, like around the grip, I use little drum sanders in a drill. I also use a Wen stationary oscillating drum sander especially on the inside curves.

I've never found a good inexpensive source of a butt plate but more recently I've seen cheap ones on Aliexpress. I used good double sided tape to secure synthetic rubber that is about 1/8th thick to the butt for a butt plate. Whatever you use it should be in place as you do the final shaping to it ends up being flush.

I like Osmo polyx oil for a finish. I've used it a lot on furniture. It's fairly durable and very easy to use. It is also easy to touch up spots if the stock gets a ding.

 

[bowwild]

JIimD,
Excellent insight and advice! I've used that dowel techinique on furniture, but I had not thought about using a washer to cover the dowel. Great idea!

I might try, on the practice piece, shifting the large round nose bit a 1/16th on each side of the channel I made for the air tube. That would be a much nicer finish than sanding. I am so very close though and my fit is actually tighter than the OEM fit and it is pretty good. I might also try a straight bit (trim bit) on the sides of the long rectangle inlet for the action behind the air tube. You are certainly right about the much better, even job.

I used a bandsaw and jig-saw to make the 1/2" thick template, and my oscillating sander as well. I will use those on the main stock when it is time. I haven't thought much about the butt plate yet. I do have a handful of hard plastic butt plates, but I could use one of the cut to shape jobs. I will definitely have something in place before I shape and sand that area though. I remember not doing that about 50 years ago when I refinished a Browning A-bolt rimfire and got a nice (not!) rounded edge - yuck.

I don't feel a lot of pressure on this project. I bought an 2"x8"x8' kiln dried walnut board. The figure is nothing special. If I mess up in a way I can't fix, I'll just start over on another 23" piece. Frankly, I hope this goes well and I discover some short-cuts and fine-tune my skills to maybe turn out a handful to sell.

I'm going to have to learn how to stipple because that's what I'm going to do for the grip . I'm not going to tackle checkering.

I also want to use some gouges to add a bit of detail to the flanks of the stock.

 

[almost sbd]

Thanks for taking us along on this project.

 

[OneAcreFarmer]

This is an awesome thread. Great work, I also enjoy woodworking and was thinking about making a stock for one of my airguns. Keep it up I am excited to see the finished product.

 

[bowwild]

Well. Spent a few hours this weekend doing more inletting. After many test fits I realized I need to go a bit wider on the 1 1/2" tube channel. Out came the router table. Did my measurement for width and .... ruined the entire piece. Whoops. I was so focused on widening the channel I forgot to stop before the last inch of the channel at the butt end. When that big ole bit hit that thick piece of unchanneled wood all heck broke loose! Blew the back end out of the piece. Router is ok, I'm ok, my supervisor dog is ok, but that piece of walnut will be relegated to the bits pile.

Heck, an easier approach might be to simply create one big ole channel wide enough for the air tube and pack the bottom with bedding compound. Then press fit the action and air tube assembly (remembering to put release agent on the action!). The alternative is to use a succession of router bits to inlet.

I'm also going to leave more wood on both ends of the blank than the 1/2" I was trying to work with.

Good thing I left my ego in the crib almost 70 years ago.

 

[JimD]

Sorry you had that incident. When I am routing the channel I put a mark on the fence of my router table where the center and the edges of the bit. I mark on the stock where I want to stop. I don't get it perfect every time but it works. I also start with a very shallow cut in the center where it won't hurt things if I am a bit off and make sure it's going where I want. I have to extrapolate from the shallow cut to the real cut, however, which doesn't help the process. If I had to add a cut like you were doing my process wouldn't work so great. Maybe I should have been quiet and let you sand the groove wider.

I checkered on a shotgun stock several decades ago. I got a couple panels done but did not even do the other side of the stock. Too fiddly for me. On my airgun stocks I put finger grooves on for my trigger hand and don't worry about my support hand. Oil type finishes leave a surface with a bit more traction too.

The inletting for the action could also be done with a plunge router. Or roughed a bit oversize with fortsner bits and then routed to final size. That's the part I use my Domino XL for. But it's too pricey unless you have a lot of furniture to build with mortise and tenon joints. You could even make a jig for the router to use a straight bit with a top bearing to get the inletting exactly the size you need. If you use a 1/2 inch straight bit with a 1/2 inch bearing the opening would be the same size as the inletting you need.

 

[JimD]

If you really want to slow the process down you could even make a trial stock of softwood first. I did that. I used a 2x6 scrap, split in two, with a piece of 1X pine in the center. Probably not wide enough for you but you get the idea. The softwood cuts easier, of course, and if you hit a snag you only loose the inexpensive boards. I did not like where my hand was on the softwood stock and I fixed that with a glued on piece and some bondo. Then I used the softwood stock to make a pattern I use to make my subsequent stocks. I painted the softwood stock and I still have it. It works, it's just kind of ugly.

 

[bowwild]

Thanks JimD. I started on a scrap piece of eastern red cedar this morning. Not a piece I would use as a stock.

However, I got impatient and thought why spend all this time (I know) on a dummy piece? So, I cut another 23.5" chunk of walnut. I cut the 17" air tube channel in the last hour.

Now I have to decide how to cut the mortises in the stock. They are too deep for any of my straight router bits. Before I used Forstner bits to hog out the material. This worked but it is a lot of tedious chisel work squaring these rectangular channels.

I recognize I've used two words (at least) that probably aren't in the vocabulary of an experienced stock maker; impatient and tedious.

Funny think about the router, especially with large bits. All is calm like sleeping in your bed until the power is turned on or a burglar breaks in. Heart rate goes up, breathing goes up, and your brain stops working. (I'm only guessing about the burglar thank goodness).

 

[Mr.H]

I don't know if this might interest you, but an investment in a copy carver like this might make your next project a success.

Gemini Wood Carver Duplicator - The Carving Duplicator Machine for the Woodworker Professional

Professional carving duplicator, rigid, accurate and fast. Carving duplicators for violins, cellos. Duplicate gunstocks quickly.

wood-carver.com

If you look hard enough on the internet, there was a company that had a set of plans so a person could fabricate his own copy jig.

 

[bowwild]

I've seen that, or another video of a DIY duplicator.

I'm going to stick with my more manual method and get this figured out. I have all the right tools. Wood can be very unforgiving.

 

[Mr.H]

I've seen that, or another video of a DIY duplicator.

I'm going to stick with my more manual method and get this figured out. I have all the right tools. Wood can be very unforgiving.

OK, sounds good. Here's another tip: On your router table fence, clamp limiter blocks so you don't go past where you want to rout.